Les deux petits savoyards

Les deux petits savoyards (The Two Little Savoyards) is a comic opera in one act by the French composer Nicolas Dalayrac. It was first performed by the Comédie-Italienne at the first Salle Favart in Paris on January 14, 1789. The libretto is by Benoît-Joseph Marsollier des Vivetières. The opera was a great success; according to the records of the Comédie-Italienne, 104,000 spectators had seen it by 1793.[1] The theme of reconciliation between the social classes appealed to audiences at the beginning of the French Revolution. Les deux petits savoyards received its British premiere at Sadler's Wells in June, 1789 and it first appeared in the United States in Philadelphia in 1797.

Nicolas Dalayrac
Operas

Roles
Roles, voice types, premiere cast
Cast Voice type Premiere cast, 14 January 1789
Michel, a Savoyard boy soprano Jeanne-Charlotte Schroeder ("Madame Saint-Aubin")
Joset, his brother soprano Rose Renaud
Verseuil tenor Jean-Pierre Solié
Bailli baritone

Synopsis

The two little Savoyard boys of the title (played by female sopranos) make a living by exhibiting their pet marmot at country fairs. When they arrive at a fair near Lyons they catch the attention of the local landowner, Verseuil. Verseuil has spent much of his life making money in America but has returned to France in search of his brother. The two Savoyards happen to have a locket with a portrait of the brother who, it turns out, was their father. The delighted Verseuil decides to share his fortune with the boys and their mother.

References
  1. Theatre, Opera, and Audiences in Revolutionary Paris p.23

Sources

  • The Viking Opera Guide ed. Amanda Holden (Viking, 1993)
  • Theatre, Opera, and Audiences in Revolutionary Paris: Analysis and Repertory (Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies) Emmet Kennedy et al. (Greenwood Press, 1996)
  • Casaglia, Gherardo (2005)."Les deux petits savoyards, 14 January 1789". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
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